System of transportation



H. W. KIRCHNER.

SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION.

APPLICATION man 020.15.1920.

Patented May 2, 1922,

3 SHEETS--SHEET n-ul H. w. KIBCHNER. SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-15,1920.

1Al,516. I Patented May 2, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET Z.

/ EN TOR A T TOkNE Y.

H. W. KIRCHNER.

SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTATION.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.I5,1920.

Patented May 2, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY- of time in unloading.

UNITED STATES HENRY W. KIRCH'NER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SYSTEM: OF TRANSPORTATION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1922.

Application filed December 15, 1920. Serial No. 430,902.

'7 '0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY W. KIRCHNER,

a ci'tizenof the United States, residing at St.

Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain "new and useful.Improvement in Systems of Transportation, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification.

My invention has relation to improve ments in transportation systemsandis intended primarily to provide a system of transportation, whereinthe carriers, as they are known today, will be dispensed with and inlieu thereof there will be provided various carriers such as trucks,flat cars, barges, and the like, said carriers being devoid of bodies,said bodies being replaced by interchangeable unit containers.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the system of railwaytransportation of today has practically reached the stage where furtherdevelopment along existing lines is impossible. This is especially truebecause the railway carriers, as a rule, are provided with fixed bodiessuch as the gondola, boxcar, refrigerator-car, tank-car, and the like.Owing to the fact that loading and unloading is not promptly done, thecars will stand on sidings or at terminals for long periods of time.This greatly decreases the efliciency of the railroads in that there isa large amount of rolling stock not in use. Statis-v tics show us thatthe waste of time when cars remain stationary at terminals for purposesof loading, unloading, or awaiting time when these operations can beperformed, amounts to 68.39 per cent. Freight rolls in trains 9.3 percent of the time and averages 11.29 per cent in loading and a likeamount This waste of time cannot be overcome no matter how efficient theloading or unloading or how promptly this is attended to, as long as thecars are loaded as a whole with various commodities.

In my improved system of transportation, I intend to overcome thedisadvantages above enumerated by providing unit containers that areadapted to be positioned on any type of carrier and suitably securedthereon. these containers being bodily removed from the carrier at pointof destination. In this way it is apparent that the carrier itself willnot be detained at terminals or en route for purposes of loading orunloading but will spend practically all of their time in transit. Assoon as containers are removed from the carrier at one station, thespace on the'carrier thereby afforded will be occupied by othercontainers having their origin at said station. i

As applied to the'railroads, mywsystem means that there will be but onetype of carrier and that being the fiat car. Obviously, the containersthemselves need not be of one type, but said containers may be made soas to meet with requirements for shipping grain, parcel freight, orliquids.

Referring to the 'drawin, s--

Figure 1 represents a pictorial view of a series of carriers, namely, atruck 1 which is adapted to be loaded with containers 2 from a platform3 for conveyance to the flat car 4. The flat car conveys the containers2 to a river terminal (shown in Figure 4) where.

the containers will be loaded on a barge 5 to be transported to thepoint of destination or to a seaport, as the case may be, at whichlatter place they may be loaded onto an ocean-going liner 6 for export.It will be understood that Figure 1 shows a logical succession ofcarriers that may be employed in my improved system, although theadvantages of the system are equally pronounced though a single carrierbe used or any two of the carriers shown in saidtfigure.

Figures 2 and 3 show a side elevation and plan view, respectively, of aflat car on which is mounted a number of containers of various types,all of said containers, however, being adapted for arrangement in onemanner or another on a standardized car.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a conventional levee front provided witha terminal and facilities for loading and unloading the containers on orfrom a flat car or barge.

Figures 5 to 8 inclusive, are detail views of the securing means wherebythe containers are fixed to the carriers, said securing means beingexplained in detail-and constituting part of the subject-matter of mycopending application, Serial Number 359,071, filed February 16, 1920.

The advantages of my improved system will be better apparent from adetail description of the system and the manner in which the same may beeffectively practiced.

e will assume that the container 2 on the platform 3 (Figure 1) is to beshipped -;to its point of destination via rail, the railing station, thetruck 1 is employed, the 0011- tainers 2 after being positioned on thetruck preferably being secured thereon by means of complementaryfastening devices on the container and truck body, which fasteningdevices may take any form, but preferably being of the type shown inFigures 5 to Upon reaching the railroad loading terminal, the containers2 are hoisted from the truck by a crane or derrick (a gantry cranesuitable for this purpose being shown in Figure 4), and placed upon therailroad flat car, said containers being. secured to the platform ofsaid fiatcar in the same manner as they were, secured to the truck,since the flat car is also provided with fastening devices of the'sametype as those on the truck. The containers on reachingtheir destinationwill be. unloaded from'the .flatcar, 4 in any manner desired, butpreferably bymeans of a crane, such as shown in Figure 4,

In order to obtain the greatest advantage from my improved system,-terminals 7 should be provided atthe points where the containers willbetransferred from one car rier to another, said terminals being of theconstruction and arrangement N that will facilitate handling of thecontainers therein.

8 5 It is not the purpose of the present applicationto claim anyparticular kind of terminal as I shall file at a later date anapplication for patent on an improved terminal.

Extending outwardly from the terminal 7 and in thepre'sent instanceprojecting rightup to the river bank is a gantry 8 on which ismounted atraveling crane 9 provided with a boom 10. The gantry 8 spans a seriesof railroad tracks 11 above which the crane 9, together with its boom10, are adapted to travel. A barge 5 is shown in the river positionednext to the gantry and a container 2 is shown being lifted from thebarge by means of the crane and about to be positioned on the flat car 4next to a container that has been previously placed on the car.

It is apparent from the above that the containers, which have withinthem the material that is shipped, may be easily and quickly moved fromcarrier to carrier, whether it be from a barge to a fiat car or from acar to a truck.

While I have shown a gantry crane as being the medium through which-thecontainers are loaded and unloaded, I do not wish to be restricted tothis particular medium as it is within the scope of my invention toprovide any suitablemeans. adapted to this purpose.

The fastening or securing means whereby ofthis distribution of the thecontainers are locked on the carriers consists of pairs of hooks 12mounted on shafts 13, the ends of which shafts are provided with gearsegments 14 adapted to mesh with pinions 15. The pinions 15 are providedwith hubs 16 over which a wrench may be placed for the purpose ofmanipulating the hoods 12. As explained in the aforesaid application,the hooks 12 will be raised as shown in the dotted position, Figure 7,before the containers 2 are positioned on the carrier and when thecontainers 2 are positioned, the hooks will be lowered so that theirterminal fingers 17 will enter pockets 18 in the side walls of thecontainers, said fingers 17engaging the upwardly projecting lip 19 ofeach pocket.

' lVhile the securing devices 'ust described have been foundsatisfactory, need not restrict myself to this particular type,as anykind of securing means may be employed that will hold the containers tothe carrier.

However, my invention contemplates that throughout the system, therebypermitting anycontainers to be securedon any carriers in the system,thus-making the carriers and containers universal in their application.

The securing devices 12 are shown in Figure 3 distributed over theentire length of the car and normally positioned below the upper surfaceof the platform, by which arrangement containers 2 of varying sizes maybe provided such as the smaller con tainers 2' and the oil tanks 2". Byvirtue securing devices throughout practically the entire extent of theplatform of thecarrier body, I am enabled to assemble on said platformcontainers of various sizes to provide for the shipment of freight inlots of various amounts and I am furthermore enabled to equip a fiat carwith different types and shapes of containers.

Thus itvwill be seen that my improved system embracing as it doesinterchangeable unit containers adapted to cooperate with but a singlecarrier body, provides a boxcar, tank-car, or any other kind of car bythe mere application of the type of container desired to the underframe.Likewise by utilizing containers of different sizes, I can providecontainers for all purposes, all of said containers possessing theattributes of universality and interchangeability.

In addition to the above, these various units may be intermingled onasingle underframe providing a car adapted to shipping mixed lots ofgoods or commodities such as oil and grain at the same time. This systemof transportation furthermore prov origin to destination via carriersequipped for universal interchange.

1 do not claim in this application the flush or disappearing fasteningdevices of the carrier as the same forms the subject-matter of anapplication filed by me May 10, 1921, Serial No. 468,396; nor do Iclaimv in this application fastening devices on the carrier and co-oerating with the. keeper or keepers within the marginal edges of acontainer, as the same forms the subject-matter of anapplication filedby me on May 10, 1921, serially numbered 468,397. I I claim: r 1. Asystem of transportation comprising a succession of carriers ofdifierent kinds, and containers of different kinds and types of a givensize or multiples thereof, adapted to receive various kinds of freight,either liquid, solid, granular, etc., all of said con tainers ofwhatever size having fastening means for universal cooperationrwithsubstantially identical complementary fastening means on said carriers.

2. A carrier, containers of different kinds and types of a given unitsize or a multiple thereof adapted to receive various kinds of freight,either liquid, solid, granular, etc.,

said carrier having plural groups of fasten-' ing means, said containerof a unit size or multiple thereof having complementary fastening meansdesigned to cooperate with the fastening means on the carrier in one ormore groups thereof. a

3. A plurality of carriers of difl'erent kinds each having substantiallyidentical securing means arranged in groups, a container" of a unit sizeor a multiple thereof, said container having complementary securingmeans-adapted to cooperate with the securing means on a carnerm one ormore groups thereof.

4. A system of transportation comprising a series of carriers adapted toreceive a plurality of containers of a unit size or a multiple thereof,terminals, lifting devices at terminals for removing the containers fromthe carriers, said terminals providing for the universal interchange ofthe contain' ers of unit size or a multiple thereof on the carriers frompoint of origin to destination,

5. The combination ofa carrier, fastening devices, and containers'in theform of units and a multiple thereof designed to be supported by saidcarrier and to interchangeably co-operate with said fastening devices.

In testimony whereof I'hGIGUHlZO aflix my signature this 6th da ofDecember, 1920. HENR W. KIRGHNER.

